Millions of Syrians displaced as winter approaches

Updated
Wed 14 Nov 2012, 7:52 AM AEDT

Photo

Syrians leave the city centre of Aleppo after shelling by government forces.

AFP: Bulent Kilic

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimates 2.5 million people are internally displaced within Syria by civil war, doubling the previous figure of 1.2 million used by aid agencies, the United Nations refugee agency said.

"The figure they are using is 2.5 million," Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva.

"If anything, they believe it could be more, this is a very conservative estimate.

"So people are moving, really on the run, hiding. They are difficult to count and access."

The United Nations said on Friday that up to 4 million people inside Syria will need humanitarian aid by early next year when the country is in the grip of winter, up from 2.5 million now whose needs are not fully met.

The UNHCR has temporarily withdrawn about half of its 12 staff from north-eastern Hassaka province due to fierce fighting and insecurity that has resulted in the loss of some aid supplies and driven more Syrian Kurds into Iraq, Ms Fleming said.

More than 407,000 Syrian refugees have registered or await registration in the surrounding region - Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq - and more are fleeing every day, she said.

Meanwhile, Syria's new opposition body has sought Arab and European backing, but Britain and France seemed to set new conditions for its recognition as an interim government to take over should president Bashar al-Assad fall.